business-utilities News
Summit looking to help consumers squash their bills
Many British energy firms including the UK’s “big six” are being called today to Westminster, along with the energy regulator Ofgem and consumer groups to bring energy bills down in time for winter.
Fact is that energy price rises applied since the summer by the energy companies has seen more than £100 added to the average annual energy bill.
Prime Minister David Cameron and Energy Secretary Chris Huhne, are set to demand that the major providers play a more active and forward thinking role in helping the UK’s energy customers save money by helping to squash their energy bills.
A route really needs to be identified to ensure that energy customers are aware of the savings which they could make by squashing their bills either by moving to a different energy tariff or energy provider or through free or subsidised insulation programmes – the plan is for the summit to start finding that route.
It’s suggested that David Cameron will be writing today on the moneysavingexpert website a pledge to deliver “A market that puts the consumer first and gets these energy bills down as much as possible.”
It is thought that his comments will be along the lines of: “Energy bills have increased by more than £100 for most people since this summer. These price rises couldn’t come at a worse time for consumers who are already feeling the pinch from rising petrol prices and the cost of the weekly shop”.
“Our intention is for today’s summit to be the start of a much more active engagement with consumers, with us all working harder and faster to deliver an energy market that is trusted, simple and transparent.”
Only last week a call was made by energy regulator Ofgem for “radical reform” to be made within the energy sector in the way that the “big six” energy companies who include – British Gas, Scottish Power, Scottish & Southern Energy, EDF, E. on and Npower, interact with their customers.
Ofgem ordered the energy companies to make it simpler for those customers looking to squash their bills when looking to change suppliers and compare deals, as well as the energy companies themselves to introduce more simplified tariffs which are easier to understand by the consumer.
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne in a statement last month described the energy market as having “all the characteristics of a cartel” despite being legal, and Meg Hillier, the shadow energy secretary, has described gas and electricity price rises as a “national scandal”.
The summit this week comes as environmentalists are warning that if Britain continues to rely on fossil fuels to meet its energy needs household energy bills could rise by £300 a year by 2020.
A further report recently published over the last few days by ‘Friends of the Earth’ rubbishes the claims by the energy companies that it’s the “green taxes” which are behind rising energy bills, the report suggests that energy bills would rise even if the “big six” energy companies abandoned renewable energy projects in favour of coal and gas plants.
The report continues to highlight that electricity bills rose by 30% in real terms between 2000 and 2010, the report says, and gas bills increased by 78% during the same period.
As a consequence, it’s claimed that such increases were largely due to a rise in the cost of coal of 71% and in natural gas prices by 90% it is claimed.
Should this rate of increase continue, the report forecast that Britain would face an additional bill of £8 billion a year by 2020, costing the average household £300 compared with the outcome if Britain were to meet its renewable energy targets.